Typing Game Tech Tip

The first typing game that I played was called Ninja Cat. This game seemed fun in concept, and I only played it on the easy level. The tutorial went okay because it just explained that you had to type the letter under the dinosaur to kill them with a shuriken. This worked when there was just one dinosaur coming at me one at a time, but when there were six dinosaurs surrounding me, the whole game started to lag a ton. This was a really unpleasant playing experience since I could not actually play the game at this point. I am not sure this issue was just caused by my computer or what, but I would definitely not be able to increase my typing skills with this game.

The next game that I played was called Type For Your Life. This one was pretty cool and a much better experience than the last one since there was not nearly as much lag. This had a guy jumping up a building, through the clouds, and into space. Before he could jump, you had to accurately spell the word underneath him. Once I got into space, the turnaround time for spelling each word correctly greatly got reduced, so in space is where I finally lost all three of my lives. Since this game pushes you to slowly get faster at typing to save your character, I think it would help me get better at typing faster and more accurately.

A game I would suggest not on this site is TypeRacer. This one is really fun for me because I get to go up against other people that can type quickly. You also get to see your progress in the form of a little racecar against all of the other racecars. This one also does not let you progress in the race if you do not type accurately, so this one easily forces you to work on your speed and accuracy if you want to do well in the race. In result, this is one that I would recommend out of all of the ones listed.

Week 10 Lab: Creative Life

The first video that I watched was A New Theory of Human Intelligence by Scott Barry Kaufman. This video brought up the importance of prioritizing the different aspects of human intelligence. A key point to this talk was that people have various skills and not everyone should be held to the same standards. This becomes a problem with standardized tests and having different parameters for how some people get into certain schools. A problem with having so many enforced unspoken rules for how intelligence should be assessed is that people that do not possess those chosen valued skills lose their value. This means that everyone does not get to reach their full potential as they force themselves to be valuable in this society. I have found that even in my own life, I have made myself become something that is more desirable in this society's culture. Top companies want people that produce quickly and effectively that serve a customer's need, and that is how I have learned to shape myself which I found to be something I had never planned.

The second video was Copyright is Brain Damage by Nina Paley. This person that gave the tech talk was an artist, and she shared the story of her struggle with creation with the restraints of copyright. She explained that with every piece of art she made, she realized there was a subconscious amount of limitations in her work. The cause of this hesitation she had was caused by the copyright and permission culture that we have existed in since birth. She brings up that copyright and permissions for use of artwork are something that we never chose to opt into. In this way, we have a set of rules that I think we have even experienced in this class. Every time we want to use an image for each blog post we make for this class, we have to make sure that we go through the steps to make sure we are abiding by the rules of copyright. This greatly diminishes the options we are allowed to use to express ourselves when creating our blog posts. I cannot image having to be an artist in a creative field where my options to help my creative process are so greatly restricted.

Bibliography

A New Theory of Human Intelligence by Scott Barry Kaufman

Copyright is Brain Damage by Nina Paley

Story Lab: Creative Life

Image Information: Human Intelligence, Pixabay

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folks Tales, Part B

The second story that I chose from the Eskimo Folk Tales unit was Kanagssuaq. This story told of  a hunter that went out after a long season of starvation and cold and found a great place to find seal in the sea. Soon, he was out catching something every single day which was wonderful for his tribe. As the toil of everyday work got to him, he wondered about meeting the great Kiliteraq while out on the ocean by himself. Kanagssuaq wished to meet Kiliteraq as he had heard that Kiliteraq was a mighty hunter. There happened to be a chance occurrence where Kanagssuaq was able to meet Kiliteraq out hunting. While this happened, Kanagssuaq told Kiliteraq where to go hunting for seal, and this resulted in Kanagssuaq needing to help Kiliteraq get his tow line in check faster. Kanagssuaq did so and was later rewarded with nice hunting equipment from Kiliteraq in exchange for being helpful.

This was a pretty simple story, but it left some good feelings since the help was rewarded. This is not always the case in real life. Obviously, Kanagssuaq did not help Kiliteraq to get something from it. He was just doing this to be a nice person, but the fact that he was rewarded on top of that was a nice addition. Making interactions between characters for being good people is a nice trend that I think could be used more in storytelling. The fact that they got to share a common trade was also nice to create a amicable sense of camaraderie. Helping people out is a nice way to make friendships, and this was a decent way to give a story of someone who was supposed to be super great at hunting and showing that even he could use some help. This is a friendly reminder that even the best in our trade can still use a helping hand.

Bibliography

Kanagssuaq, Eskimo Folk Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921)

Image Information: Arctic Ocean, Wikimedia

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales, Part A

The story I chose this week was "The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son" from the Eskimo Folk Tales unit. How this story went was a lady was taken care of by her village. The hunters of the village often gave her food and other supplies, so she could take care of herself. One day, they brought the lady a bear cub that had just had its parent killed for food. The bear cub was still alive, so she took care of the bear cub and raised him as her own. The people of the village brought her plenty of food to support both her and the bear cub. This bear cub got accustomed to human speech, so he began to understand the words spoken to him by the lady. The cub got to play with the kids of the village. When the bear got too big for the kids, he began to play with the adults. He also got to go out on hunting trips with the hunters. Unfortunately, people from other villages saw the bear as a threat and tried to attack him. Eventually, this got to be too dangerous for the bear, so the lady had to send the bear away for his own safety.

The aspect I liked about this story is that a lady was able to take in a bear cub. I think it would be super cool to have a bear just around that you can keep in your house without being worried about being harmed. Additionally, she did not go and catch this bear for her own selfish reasons, she was taking care of an orphaned bear cub that needed someone to help him through this hard time of his life. This story of taking in an animal that would not be better off on its own is nice to read, and I liked how the bear was able to become integrated into their village life.

Bibliography

The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son, Eskimo Folk Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921)

Image Information: Polar Bear Cub by tableatny, Flickr